President Donald Trump has called off the summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un. From The Hill:

“Please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place,” Trump wrote in a letter to Kim.

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Trump said that he believes “this is a tremendous setback for North Korea” and the world. He spoke to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and stated that our powerful military “is ready if necessary.” He hopes “positive things will be taking place with respect to North Korea,” but if that doesn’t happen, “we are more ready than we have ever been before.”

Trump also said that our allies South Korea and Japan “are not only ready should foolish or reckless acts be taken by North Korea, but they are willing to shoulder much of the cost of any financial burden, any of the costs associated by the United States in operations if an unfortunate situation is forced upon us.”

He hopes North Korea will open up to dialogue, but until then, we will keep sanctions on the hermit kingdom:

“All of the Korean people, North and South, deserve to be able to live together in harmony, prosperity and peace. That bright and beautiful future can only happen when the threat of nuclear weapons is removed. No way it can happen otherwise. If and when Kim Jong-un chooses to engage in constructive dialogue and actions, I am waiting. In the meantime, our very strong sanctions, by far the strongest sanctions ever imposed, and maximum pressure campaign will continue as it has been continuing.”

The door remains open for a summit to happen between America and North Korea.

On Tuesday, as he sat next to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Trump told the media he is “a little disappointed” with Kim after the dictator’s latest trip to China. From Fox News:

“There was a difference when Kim Jong Un left China the second time,” said Trump at an appearance alongside South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

“I can’t say that I’m happy about it.”

North Korea threatened to cancel the summit on Thursday and described Vice President Mike Pence as a “political dummy after an interview with Fox News:

“But when Kim Jong Un through the South Koreans reached out and said he would suspend his nuclear testing, suspend his ballistic testing, and be willing to achieve complete denuclearization through talks in exchange for a meeting with President Trump, this president readily said yes,” Pence told Fox News.

“As a person involved in the U.S. affairs, I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the U.S. vice president,” North Korea’s vice foreign minister, Choe Sun Hui, said in a statement released by state media, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Choe said the U.S. “has asked for the dialogue” with the North but is now “misleading the public opinion as if we have invited them to sit with us.”

“We will neither beg the U.S. for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us,” Choe reportedly said.

Trump’s just showing Lil Kim who is in charge. Part of the show.
No way they’ll shoot any rockets at our cities as some suggest. In spite of a lot of bluster, that’s all still a fantasy.
He’s choking on the sanctions we’ve put on since DJT has been in charge.
Time is much more on our side than theirs and this will prove it to anyone that thought otherwise. Kim’s playing wiffle ball, Trump hardball.

Yep, Kim was gearing up on the old trick of “make them want it real bad, then dump on new demands, then threaten to walk out.” The Iranians played that perfectly on John “I won’t Leave without a Deal!” Kerry.

But, Trump clearly expected this, so he got the Nork’s and the Chinese hopes up, and then HE walked out of the deal before Kim could. So now, we’re back at square one, except both sides have shown they know all the tricks. So now maybe real negotiating can start – or maybe a whole new round of tricks will have to happen again. It’s up to Kim, really.

Trump’s position is what every good deal maker knows, and amazingly what very few politicians these days appear to know – you’ve always got to be ready to stand up and walk out of the room if things don’t go in a way you can live with. Make the other side consider how badly THEY want to make the deal.

Why not? We are already warming the rest of the planet in a slow simmer.

But Kim’s whole point is that as long as he has weapons that can hit, D.C., NY, LA he is a big fish in a big pond. If we annihilate him, but in the process he wipes out some of our major cities, you make think this country will be better off. But that is rhetoric divorced from reality.

Kim and North Korea can play a role in fixing the warming problem. I will work regardless of weather or not warming is a natural cyclic event, man made or both.
Nuclear explosions, volcano eruptions, or asteroid strikes could be used to moderate warming.
I thin the most effective way to lower warming is to use nukes to trigger a volcanic eruption in North Korea.
For the good of humanity, North Korea could take one, or maybe many for the team.
It seems like a good idea to perform this experment on a shit hole like North Korea.

You better be damn certain they don’t lob any our way. Even if you are not in the blast radius, you will not escape unscathed. If you are rooting for it to bring on some event, then stop claiming to be a patriot because the US of A will cease to exist.

One more time, this is not Kim. Kim is a Chinese puppet. This is China trying to leverage more concessions from the Trump administration on trade matters.

Look, China does not want US milit5ry action against the DPRK. If that happens, Kim & Co are gone. But, China is placed in the position of doing something, militarily, against the US or lose face. So, Kim is not going to launch any nukes at the US [Hawaii is about the only state that NK missiles can reach, at the moment anyway]. And, if it looks like Kim might do something that stupid, either ROK agents, or the Chinese, will take him out. The message that Trump is sending is that the US is more than willing to engage in serious talks with the DPRK. But, it is just as willing to use military force to squash North Korea like a bug, if necessary. And, Trump gave Xi a carrot in the case of ZTE. But, he is still holding the big stick as we negotiate trade deals with the Chinese. The ball is in Kim and Xi’s court and they have already lost this game. we’ll have to see what they do next.

Actually, they have successfully test flown missiles that can reach anywhere in the continental USA. They shot them in a different trajectory, but the experts I have read seemed satisfied that they can reach us.

The only thing they haven’t done is show that they have a reentry vehicle. That is no mean feat. But they have been ahead of the predictions at every point.

I read the other day that they have the facilities to mass produce thermonuclear bombs. That would give them a pretty big button.

Maybe Trump should sit through a whole detailed briefing instead of using the Cliff’s Notes. He isn’t fleecing investors or building garish buildings anymore.

Missile experts are suggesting that the latest NK missile, Taepodong-2, can achieve sufficient altitude to allow it to reach central portions of the US mainland. The problem is that it has yet to be sufficiently tested to determine if that is true. As you note reentry vehicle performance has not been shown to be sufficient to allow this delivery, or that it even exists. Also, there is a little matter of accuracy. At the moment, the NORKs don’t have that beyond a range of approximately 2500 miles. Also, the critical yield of known nuclear weapons in the NORK arsenal is in the 7-15kt range. Though they did achieve a detonation in 2017 which experts are classifying as in the 120-150kt range, based upon seismic measurements, it is unlikely that it has any which are operational or deliverable.

This is why it is imperative for the US to stop the NK nuclear and missile programs now. The US, Russia, China, the UK, France, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea all have nuclear weapons. And no one really worries that they might use them, with the exception of North Korea. The concern over Pakistan possessing nukes is not that the current government is likely to use them, but that they might be obtained by extremists or a future extremest government might inherit the arsenal. But, the DPRK leadership has shown itself to be completely untrustworthy, this makes peaceful means of assuring this very risky. If the DPRK should actually deliver a nuclear missile to any US territory, or to an ally such as Japan or the ROK, then the possibility is very strong that this administration would respond with nuclear weapons. The US has the capability of accurate delivery of any nuclear munition in its arsenal, up to a maximum yield of 50-100mt and an exceptionally accurate delivery of weapons in the 20-60 kt range. However, any attack against the DPRK would place China in the position of having to take action against the US. This is especially true where nuclear weapons deliveries are concerned. And, China does not want to have to deal with that. A conventional conflict with the Us would be extremely bad for China, as well as the US. But, no one would win a large scale nuclear exchange. For this reason, expect to see Kim at the table, on Trump’s terms.

Trump just spanked the baby emperor. Kim was obviously setting up Trump with the help of the Leftist media. Trump has already set his legacy by doing things no president in five decades has ever done. The media wanted the deal to fail so that it could all be taken away from Trump. Kim was trying to move into a position of power but made a blunder by insulting the other party to the discussions. Trump is not a politician and probably had that letter drafted weeks ago because he knew NK would try something. Kim was most certainly talking with Iran but Obama/Kerry are not Trump/Pompeo.

To negotiate with North Korea is to negotiate with China. Such momentous agreements do not happen quickly. Given NK’s history of international ‘diplomacy’, any deal would be a miracle, not likely to happen. However, this go-round has taken it further than past attempts, so one can hope. However, the pessismist in me is also a realist (these share 99% of their DNA) and we’re thinking, “C’mon, it’s North Korea. We’ve seen this movie before.”

Previous Administration: Announce meeting. Claim the US needs to do one small thing or meeting is off. Watch US representatives bow and scrape. Repeat ad infinitum until NK cancels meeting and blames the US.

Current Administration: Announce meeting. Start with the line-moving as before. Watch in horrified amazement as US appears to be actually serious about the negotiation, cancels the meeting, and applies pressure to China, who passes it along. Quietly set meeting back up before something bad happens to Kim.

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